


sweet

by nightstreet



Category: True Beauty - Yaongyi (Webcomic), 여신강림 | True Beauty (Korea TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Im Jugyeong and Lee Suho constantly helping each other grow and open up, there's only one kind of mature scene in here but otherwise it's pretty innocent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:34:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29311170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightstreet/pseuds/nightstreet
Summary: “When I was little, I always tried to help my mom with the cooking and she’d always thank me for helping,” he tells her, grabbing a fishcake and putting it on top of his bowl of rice. “But to be honest, I’m sure I just mostly just got her in her way instead.”He takes a bite of his food, looking up because Jugyeong doesn’t respond right away. There’s a surprised, almost deer-in-the-headlights look on her face.“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks, puzzled.Jugyeong looks down at her bowl of rice, embarrassed. “Oh, sorry,” she mumbles. “It’s just—you never talk about your mom.”(just a day in Im Jugyeong and Lee Suho's sweet relationship)
Relationships: Jugyeong Lim/Suho Lee
Comments: 19
Kudos: 92





	sweet

_It’s unbearably hot_ , Suho thinks when he wakes up from his nap. He’d gotten up in the morning to do a little bit of studying for his university entrance exam that is approaching quickly and working through his books, when he’d suddenly been hit with a feeling of fatigue.

He’d been groggy since the morning, but he had hoped that with a bit of coffee and breakfast, he would be able to power through it, but by the early afternoon he’d succumbed to his exhaustion and fallen into bed.

Suho reaches for the phone on his bedside table, blinking his eyes to check the time. _5:32 PM_ , he sees. A panic overcomes him as he realizes that he’s due over at Jugyeong’s house for dinner shortly, as the family was celebrating Hee Gyeong’s promotion at work.

“ _You must be studying hard!!”_ A text reads, just sent an hour ago from his girlfriend. Underneath the text is a selfie of Im Ju Gyeong cutely posing with a finger heart with an edited caption “Lee Su Ho, fighting!”

He can’t help the smile that spreads across his face at the photo he finds so adorable. Even now, at age 21, Suho still gets giddy and child-like when his girlfriend shows him affection and love. He lets himself look at the photo of her for a couple minutes before getting up from bed.

A throbbing headache and wave of nausea hits him immediately as he stands. He drops his head into his hands by instinct as he sits back down.

A sigh escapes him as he realizes that he’s probably not in the best condition to go out right now, much less be able to be his best self in front of Im Ju Gyeong’s family. He’s conflicted for a moment, his decisions impaired by both the headache and intense heat his body is in.

After a few minutes, he comes to a decision. Scrolling to her nickname on his phone, he calls his favorite person.

“Lee Suho!” Im Jugyeong answers almost immediately. Just hearing her bright voice magically seems to make him feel a little better. “Have you been studying hard?”

“Mm,” he responds. “Not as much as I wanted to.”

“That’s okay!” she says, cheerfully. “You’ve been working hard all week.”

He smiles into the phone.

“Are you on your way over?” she asks, excitement still ringing in her voice. “My mom’s been cooking the _gamjatang_ all day and I think it’ll be ready in an hour!”

Suho hesitates because he hates disappointing her. “Im Jugyeong,” he breathes in response, his voice already sounding apologetic. “I don’t think I can come over tonight. Tell your mom that I’m so sorry and your sister congratulations for me.”

“Oh! Is something wrong?” Jugyeong asks, her tone a mixture of concern and disappointment.

His head is still throbbing wildly, but the last thing he wants is to worry his girlfriend more, since he’s well acquainted with how much she overthinks sometimes. “Just a little sick,” he admits.

“Sick?” she gasps. “Oh no -- I knew you shouldn’t have gone out last night– I’m going to _kill_ Han Seo-jun for making you stand out there in the rain waiting for him. What are your symptoms? Do you have a cough? Chills? A fever?”

Suho chuckles in response to her motherly-like tone. “I’m okay,” he replies, trying to suppress a cough. “I just feel a little hot.”

He swears he can see her frowning at his answer through the phone. “It could be a fever. Make sure you take some fever reducer and drink a lot of water.”

“I will,” Suho promises, earnestly.

He can hear her hesitating, as if she wants to say more, but he can hear in the background noise that her mom is screaming for her. “Go help your mom,” he urges her, his voice soft. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”

She’s pouting, he’s sure. A cute pout, he thinks. “Okay,” Jugyeong sighs, a slight baby-ish tinge to her voice. “I’ll call you later,” she promises.

When he hangs up the phone, another wave of fatigue passes through him. He’s tempted to just lay back down in his bed and go back to sleep.

But it’s as if he can hear Jugyeong’s concerned voice in his mind that he pauses – knowing that if Jugyeong found out that he wasn’t taking care himself, she’d be sad and disappointed in him. Rubbing his temples to ease his headache, he then forces himself up to the medicine cabinet to down some Tylenol and water before collapsing back in bed.

-

Suho’s woken up suddenly by a wet washcloth and gentle hands against his forehead. He grunts in response, the washcloth a little too cold against his burning skin. With his eyes half open, he looks up – and it’s his favorite sight.

“It’s Im Jugyeong,” he mumbles, still half-asleep and dazed. His lips are curled up in a soft smile.

She giggles in response—honestly, the cutest sound he’s ever heard—and leans forward closer to him. “It’s me,” she says.

“Am I dreaming?” Suho murmurs, closing his eyes again.

He feels her soft fingers press against the side of his neck. “No, but you definitely have a fever,” Jugyeong responds, concerned. “Did you take a fever reducer?”

“Yes, I did -- just like you told me to,” he answers with a proud smile and opens his eyes to look at her, like a child waiting for praise. She’s looking down at him with that same look of concern and the wrinkles between her eyebrows. He wants to wipe that look of worry off her face.

Still groggy, Suho reaches up and touches her cheek with his hand. She’s not wearing makeup and her wavy hair is down and a little messy, but the sight of her still takes his breath away. “How was your dinner?”

“Oh!” she exclaims, suddenly remembering something. She brings his hand down from her face and holds it between both of hers. “My mom packed you a lot of food after I told her you were sick,” she says. “It’s in the kitchen. Are you hungry now?”

The thought of food makes him feel a little sick, Suho shakes his head. “I don’t think I can eat anything right now,” he admits. He’s a little surprised at the gesture, because no one’s ever cared for him as much as now.

“Let me get you some water then,” Jugyeong says, getting up quickly and heading to the fridge. Her presence and touch are immediately missed by him. “When did you take the medicine? You might need a second dose.”

He thinks for a moment. “A little before six?”

He hears the fridge door open and shut again. In a second, she’s back sitting next to him a water bottle in hand. “Mmm, so you’ll have to take another at midnight,” she thinks out-loud, glancing at the clock that reads eleven pm. She hands him the cold bottle of water. “Drink,” she commands.

Suho sits up in his bed, moving the wash-cloth onto the nightside table and forcing himself to down some of the water in front of her and for her approval.

“It’s late,” he says, putting the water bottle down. Suho tugs her hands, pulling her into his arms and onto the bed. He leans his chin on her shoulder, wrapping his hands around her waist loosely and sighing contently. She’s so _comfortable_ , he can’t help but think. “Do you need to leave soon?”

His least favorite part about being with Jugyeong is always the end of the night. He might be a little greedy, but he wishes she never had to go.

He buries his face into the crook of her neck and she giggles. “Actually…” Jugyeong says, her voice light. “I convinced my parents to let me stay and take care of you tonight.”

He lifts his head up to look at her face, surprised. The happiness he feels right now is unmatched. “You’re staying?” He feels like a little boy again receiving a reward, tightening his hug around her like he’ll never let her go. “You’re really, _really_ staying?”

He almost doesn’t believe it, but she doesn’t look like she’s joking so he allows himself to feel excited. “Yup, but I need to send my dad a picture of your thermometer to actually prove that you’re sick.”

Taken aback, Suho raises his eyebrows. “What?”

“Don’t ask me – I don’t get it either,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I think this is weird way of making sure we don’t do anything impure tonight.”

Suho can’t help but laugh – Jugyeong’s dad has always been quite a character. “He thinks a fever can stop us from doing impure things?” He kisses her neck, teasingly.

Jugyeong quickly smacks him lightly on the leg, moving her neck away from him. “Ya! We’re definitely not doing anything when you’re sick like this,” she scolds him.

Suho smiles widely at her reaction. “But you’ve just hit a sick person.”

“Oh,” she says with a pause. “Right. Sorry.”

He laughs, already feeling better with her presence. “I wasn’t even thinking about that anyway. Just having you here is more than enough.”

And it’s true. He doesn’t think she’ll ever understand quite how he feels about her, but just her presence makes him happy beyond imaginable. They don’t even have to be doing anything – just being able to look up and see her face is everything he ever wants.

And there -- the cute wide smile that he loves to see spreads across her face again. “Lee Suho, you’re too much,” she replies, wrestling her way out of his grip. “Where’s your thermometer?”

-

When he wakes again in the morning, she’s still there. He blinks a couple times to make sure he’s actually awake and she’s actually there.

He’s feeling much less hot already and she’s sleeping so soundly in his arms that he doesn’t want to disturb her. Suho studies her face, in awe of her natural beauty. One thing he will never understand how she thinks of herself as ugly without makeup, because to him, she’s unbelievably stunning.

He closes the already small gap between them by kissing her on the forehead gently, so in love.

At the light kiss, she flutters her eyes open.

He grins, boyish. “Good morning, _ja-gi-ya_ ,” he murmurs.

She laughs. “Hi,” she says, blinking slow to wake up. Just a few seconds later, it’s as if she remembers why she was there, she reaches up to touch his forehead with the back of her hand. “Oh! Your fever is down,” Jugyeong announces, excitedly. “Are you feeling better?”

“Much,” he says, brushing the hair out of her eyes.

“Let me heat up the soup that my mom brought for you!” she says, starting to get up.

He tightens his hold on her, forbidding her from leaving. She’s so warm and soft that he doesn’t want this moment to end, just yet. “Can we stay like this for just a little more?” he whines.

To his gratification, Jugyeong doesn’t fight him, instead snuggling back into his arms. “Aren’t you hungry though?” she asks, looking up at him with her brown eyes.

“Mmm,” he hums. “I can wait a bit,” he tells her, nestling her head under her chin and closing his eyes in contentment.

“I wish every morning could be like this,” he confesses.

There’s a moment before she responds. “Me too,” she admits, shyly.

He opens his eyes again to look at her, meeting hers. “Really?”

“Really,” she assures him, leaning up to kiss him lightly on the cheek. His heart leaps in his chest. 

“Then you should move in,” he quips, with a smile. He knows it’s impossible – at least at their age, but he can’t help but hope. “You can sleep here.”

She snorts in response. “My dad would kill us.”

Mischievously, he flips her over on the bed, so he is hovering above her. “I can think of other things we could do that your dad would kill us for,” he mumbles, starting to kiss her neck.

“Lee Suho!” she reprimands, shocked at his words. “That is _not_ a turn-on.”

He laughs against her skin before she forces him, unwillingly, to get up in order to get some food in his body.

-

“Wow,” Suho says in amazement after taking a bite. The table is filled with many side dishes and Jugyeong’s mom’s special soup, steam still rising from the bowl. “I always knew your mom was a great cook, but this is amazing.”

Jugyeong grins. “Yeah, I really should learn from her,” she says before taking another spoonful of rice in her mouth. “Even though she always yells at me in the kitchen.”

Jugyeong says that last sentence with her mouth full and it’s endearing to him how comfortable they’ve gotten around each other.

He smiles, reaching forward to dab the excess soup from the side of her mouth with a napkin. “When I was little, I always tried to help my mom with the cooking and she’d always thank me for helping,” he tells her, grabbing a fishcake and putting it on top of his bowl of rice. “But to be honest, I’m sure I just mostly just got her in her way instead.”

He takes a bite of his food, looking up because Jugyeong doesn’t respond right away. There’s a surprised, almost deer-in-the-headlights look on her face.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks, puzzled.

Jugyeong looks down at her bowl of rice, embarrassed. “Oh, sorry,” she mumbles. “It’s just—you never talk about your mom.”

“Oh,” Suho replies, suddenly feeling a little insecure about it. He stares at his own bowl of rice. “I don’t really have many memories of her left. Since she died so long ago.”

Jugyeong is looking at him now with a mixture of curious and sad eyes. “Was she a good cook too?” she asks.

There are a few memories he has of her. He remembers the _manduguk_ on New Years’ Day, her special _japchae_ that she would make him after his basketball games, the _kimbap_ for lunch before afternoon piano lessons.

“She was amazing,” he tells her, honestly, a smile sneaking onto his face again. Suho laughs, a memory suddenly coming to mind. “But she was the worst baker. I don’t know what it was. Every year on my birthday, she’d always try to bake me a cake and it would go badly every time. It would either be really bland or doughy and one year it was just really salty.”

“A salty cake?” Jugyeong asks, scrunching up her nose.

“Yeah,” Suho confirms with a chuckle, also scrunching up his nose after remembering the taste. “And afterwards, we’d always end up going to this ice cream place by my old house to recover from the bad cake.”

“That’s so sweet,” Jugyeong says, resting her chin in her hand, her eyes sparkling. “Have you been there since?”

“No,” he answers, the grin dropping from his face. “After my mom died, we moved from that house, so I never really went back.”

Jugyeong is silent for a moment, swallowing another bite of her food before speaking.

“It’s nearby, right?” she asks, suddenly. She ponders for a moment. “Can we go?”

-

The ice cream shop is almost exactly how he remembers it. Some of the décor is a little more updated, but the feeling is all the same. It’s a small family-owned shop with pictures of sports teams and school flags on the walls. There’s a wooden table with red chairs in the corner that he remembers he and his mom would sit in often. Everything about it feels so nostalgic that he feels a little bit emotional.

“Wow, there’s _so_ many flavors,” Jugyeong exclaims in awe, peeking into the glass. “What are you going to get?” She looks up at him.

“Probably vanilla,” Suho replies, simply, putting his hands in his pockets.

Jugyeong snorts in response. “You’re boring,” she teases, before ordering herself a fudge sundae with sprinkles.

They sit at the same table he and his mom used to sit at – and he tells Jugyeong so.

“This is so cool,” she tells him, eyes wide, studying the table and the corner they’re in.

“Is it?”

“Yeah,” Jugyeong says before taking a bite into her sundae. She licks the spoon clean, happiness on her face. “It’s like I’m getting a look into little Lee Suho’s life. The crybaby one.”

He smiles, rolling his eyes. She’ll never let it go. “I cried _one_ time,” he argues.

“And I’ll never forget,” she proclaims, proudly. Jugyeong glances down at his ice cream, which he’s only had a single bite of. “Do you not like it?”

“I just haven’t had anything sweet in a while,” he confesses.

She frowns in response. “You don’t have a sweet tooth,” Jugyeong remembers.

He pauses, looking at a spot in the wall behind her. He’s so much older and taller now that he feels a pang in his chest when he realizes that if his mom were to see him now – maybe she wouldn’t even recognize him.

“I think the reason why I don’t eat sweets is because it makes me miss her,” Suho finally confesses. He’s never really thought about it, but now that it’s on his mind, it makes sense. He’s accidentally negatively conditioned himself to not like sweets because it reminds him too much of her.

“My mom had a huge sweet tooth, but my dad doesn’t,” he continues to explain. “Every time I would go visit her at the hospital, she’d always give me money to get a candy bar from the gift shop and we’d split it together.”

Jugyeong is quiet, looking down at the table.

“I’m sorry for talking so much today,” Suho says, suddenly feeling embarrassed. Why was he suddenly sharing so much about himself? Thoughts he hadn’t been thinking of in years?

“No, no,” Jugyeong say quickly. “Your mom sounds like the best person.”

“She was,” he says sadly, looking down at his now melting ice cream. He forces himself to take another bite, feeling the corners of his eyes prickling. “Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who misses her.”

“That’s not true,” Ju Gyeong says. “Your dad. He must have loved her too.”

Suho looks away, anger filling him. He chokes up a sob. “He wouldn’t have done what he did the day she died if he truly loved her.”

He doesn’t want to ruin the day with her with his bitter thoughts, so he tries to suppress it, instead trying to focus on the ice cream.

But she sees him, completely.

“People deal with pain in different ways, Lee Suho,” she tells him, eyes solemn. “I’m not saying it’s right. But it is human.”

Jugyeong reaches out and takes his free hand in hers. “Thank you for taking me here,” she says, squeezing his hand and offering him a smile.

It’s then when he realizes that the things that Im Jugyeong does to him – her kindness and her warmth and her empathy makes him want to continue opening up to her, slowly but surely taking down his walls he’s built up for so long. He hadn’t realized how heavy they had felt.

Suho squeezes her hand back. “Thank you for coming with me here.”

-

After the ice cream, he tells her he’s still a little tired and has some residual body aches, so they decide to head back to his apartment to watch a movie.

“You should pick the movie this time,” Jugyeong declares, handing him the remote. “I picked the last _three_ times. It’s unfair.”

He smiles and grabs the remote. “I don’t care,” Suho replies, unbothered, putting his arm around her and bringing her close to him. He grabs the remote and kisses the top of her head. “I liked all the movies you chose, anyway.”

She snuggles into him as he begins scrolling through the TV, twisting her legs around his in a comfortable tangle.

“Mmmm – there’s so many new movies out,” he observes, carefully looking at each option on the screen.

She jumps up in his arms suddenly and points.

“I’ve been wanting to watch that!” Jugyeong exclaims, as he scrolls past a thriller on the new releases section. He grins, scrolling back and clicking on it right away.

Jugyeong turns to him, excited. “It’s based on a webtoon,” she explains, animatedly, her eyes lighting up. “The webtoon is _so_ good, I forgot about it because I read it so long ago – but you should read it!”

“Yeah?” he asks, captivated by her enthusiasm.

“Yes!” she confirms, nodding her head quickly. “There’s a twist in the middle and I don’t really get surprised by plot twists, but this one really shocked me.”

She leans to the screen, reading the synopsis of the movie that’s on the screen. “I wonder how they’ll do it in the movie!”

He laughs. “Shouldn’t I read the webtoon before I watch the movie?” Suho ponders, though it’s not so serious in his mind.

“Oh,” she mumbles, clearly disappointed. She sinks a little on the couch. “You’re right. We can watch something else.”

He pats her on the top of her head. “It’s okay, let’s watch it still.”

Jugyeong looks conflicted, seemingly going through the decision in her head. He can almost hear her inner argument with herself.

And he can’t help it. She looks so cute right now. He knows they’re supposed to be starting a movie, but her concentrated pout, her bright eyes, her body against his, it reminds him of how in love with her she is.

Without a second thought, Suho leans in and kisses her softly, molding his lips onto hers. He pulls back, studying her face to see if it’s okay. Her cheeks are flushed pink and her breathing is a little less regular now.

“Sorry,” Suho mumbles, embarrassed, turning his face back to the screen.

Her soft, small hands come up to his cheeks, gently nudging him to face her again. “I don’t mind,” she says shyly, bringing her lips up to his again lightly.

He hums in contentment as she parts her lips slightly, deepening the kiss.

When he pulls away, her eyes are different now, darker. Jugyeong wraps her hands around his neck, bringing his lips to hers again – he’s addicted to her, he swears.

She leans her body against him until she’s laying completely top of him on the couch and he wraps his arms around her tiny waist, pressing her even closer to him. He continues to kiss her messily, drunk off her touch, her kiss, her body.

He sucks the side of her neck, running her hands up and down her back and spine. She whimpers, the sound of her music to his ears.

It happens fast, movie long forgotten in the background. Their clothes are off now and he doesn’t know when it happened but all he knows is that Im Ju Gyeong is on top of him and she’s the most perfect thing he’s ever seen.

“Jugyeong-ah,” he breathes, mesmerized by her. And then she’s lowering herself onto him, slowly, taking him in, her eyes closed in pleasure – a moan escaping her as she takes him in completely.

He grabs her hips tightly as she rides him and he meets her movements with his own thrusts, finding the perfect rhythm between them. Her sighs, whimpers, her calling his name– she makes him unravel in every way possible.

How could he have ever gotten so lucky with her?

She’s close – Suho can tell, by the way she’s speeding up and the way she tightens around him that it brings him even closer to the end.

He keeps his eyes on her, watching her as she moves faster and with more urgency as he thrusts inside her deeper and deeper. He’s barely holding on, dizzy with pleasure, when he finally feels her-- tightening around him in undulating waves that he lets himself fall over the edge with her.

-

On the drive home, Suho consciously feels the time with her running out.

“Are you sure you still don’t want to move in with me?” he asks, jokingly as they’re in his car in front of her house. Suho leans over the dashboard, a grin on his face.

“Lee Suho, you’re asking for too much,” she scolds him, a similar smile on hers.

He knows he is – he’s already feeling spoiled by the night and day that she’s given to him. Knowing that they both have a busy week again, with his studying and prep classes and her working and school – they probably won’t have another leisurely day for a while. Any time with her is a blessing.

“I know,” Suho replies, pouting. He brings her hands up to his lips, kissing them gently. “Thank you for taking care of me so well.”

“It’s _you_ who takes care of _me_ so well,” she insists.

“Tell your mom thank you for the food,” he says, his eyes serious. “It was so kind of her.”

She looks at him, a sad look on her face. “That’s what moms are for,” she tells him. “My mom loves you too, you know. My mom can be your mom.”

He laughs. “Are you proposing to me?” he teases.

“No, I’m saying you can be my brother.” She shoots back, tilting her head.

He crinkles his nose in disgust. “Gross.”

Jugyeong giggles in response. “I have to go in now, Lee Suho,” she says, pulling her hands away from him, a goofy smile still on her face.

“Okay, Im Jugyeong,” he says.

Jugyeong kisses him on the cheek before she exits the car. He watches her carefully as she leaves, with hopping steps up to her front door. Before opening it, she whips around to face him, shooting a bright smile and an excited wave. “Bye _, ja-gi-ya_!”

He smiles, his heart soaring and brings his hand up to wave her goodbye.

When she disappears out of his sight, he immediately misses her. It’s always this way. But as he drives back to his apartment, he realizes that as much as he misses her when she’s gone, the more grateful he is for the time that they spend together. She makes him better. In every way possible.

-

The next morning, he wakes up, makes himself a cup of coffee.

He texts Im Jugyeong good morning with maybe a little too many hearts and emojis. He then takes a deep breath, finds who he is looking for in his phone, and hits the call button.

“Hey Dad,” he says into the phone, his heart beating fast in his chest. “Will you go with me to visit mom’s grave?”

**Author's Note:**

> hello again! this honestly is just straight fluff without too much plot, but i'm just getting back into writing again, so i hope you still enjoy! i also always wanted to know more about lee suho's mom so i decided to give him a little time to talk about it. also i just love how these two open up to each other and talk about the real things -- but also still have cute light moments, so i wanted to convey that here.
> 
> thank you for reading :)
> 
> edit: hi wanted to share that i just made a tumblr (@night--street with two dashes) if you wanted to send me any requests or discussions!


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